New Brunswick man arrested for window damage

Richard Green, 52, allegedly broke the windows
of five businesses early Tuesday morning on Raritan Avenue in
Highland Park.

Highland Park police arrested 52-year-old
Richard Green last night in connection with acts of vandalism to
five Jewish-owned businesses.

The front windows of Trio Gifts, Judaica
Gallery, Jerusalem Pizza, Jack’s Hardware and Park’s Place Kosher
Family Restaurant, all located on Raritan Avenue, were found
damaged and smashed Tuesday morning.

Green, of Bayard Street in New Brunswick, is
charged with five counts of criminal mischief, a fourth-degree
offense, and may face additional charges if the crime is upgraded
to a bias crime, according to a release from Middlesex County
Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan.

The preliminary investigation determined that
Jewish merchants who sold clothing, food or religious items
pertaining to the Jewish faith own the targeted shops, according to
the release.

Judaica Gallery co-owner Shmuel Shimoni said
he has never seen an incident like this in his 30 years of
residency, but that he did not want to jump to conclusions.

“I don’t want to guess. Obviously, because all
stores that were hit were Jewish stores, but I have to wait until
the police and all the reports come out before making any
judgments,” he said.

The damage, which left some store windows
completely smashed and gone, evoked some emotional reactions by
those affected.

“The initial reaction was, who did it? Will it
happen again? But overall, we were grateful that no one was hurt
and the damages were all repairable,” said Jack’s Hardware owner
David Krul.

Rabbi Edward Prince, manager for Jerusalem
Pizza, said he is trying to stay objective until all the facts are
disclosed.

“If you look at the stores that were hit,
clearly they’re all Jewish. But it’s easy to jump to conclusions,”
he said. “If you look at the logic of what was hit, what wasn’t hit
— it’s not [so] obvious. It could easily be someone who just went
off their meds.”

Some community members are also trying to hold
off their opinions until the police have fully investigated the
matter.

“People jump to conclusions very quickly, but
it’s important that we all keep level heads until we know exactly
what’s going on,” said Gayle Brill Mittler, a Highland Park Council
member.

“What are you supposed to think? It’s obvious
it was because of anti-Semitism,” she said.

Officers distributed fliers to the community
yesterday afternoon announcing the investigation into the
crimes.

“All of our officers are aware of the
sensitivity of this situation, and we will make every effort with
patrols and surveillance to keep everyone safe,’’ Highland Park
Police Department Chief Stephen Rizco said in the release.

Prosecutors are also investigating similar
incidents of vandalism at the Rutgers Hillel and the Chabad House
on the College Avenue campus where windows were allegedly broken at
both locations Saturday night.

Owners and employees said they tried to not
let the targeting of Jewish stores affect them, but some
neighborhood residents said they felt devastated and shocked when
hearing the news.

“I’m horrified. It’s awful and I’m very upset.
It looks like a hate crime and I don’t even know what to say,” said
Highland Park resident Mary Schmutz. “You read about things like
this and hear about them, but this doesn’t happen to your
town.”

Highland Park resident Scott Thompson said he
was surprised the incident occurred in Highland Park.

“I consider it very disappointing that there
are people, especially here in a place like New Jersey, who would
be so bigoted,” he said. “I could understand a less ethnic area,
but not here.”

Thompson feels that the type of community
Highland Park is presents itself as a viable candidate for a
situation like this.

“If someone wants to try and make an impact
and try and scare people and produce concern, I [would] think a
place like Highland — a quiet town with a large Jewish population.
It makes sense someone would target a place like us. But it’s an
act of cowardice.”

But resident Leonard Bridges said Highland
Park does have some tension regarding different ethnic
cultures.

“It’s kind of segregated in a strange way —
Jewish, black, white. There may be some ethnic tensions. I don’t
know. It’s just changed,” he said.

Bridges feels Highland Park has changed and is
not as warm as it used to be.

“Highlands is very different then what it was
when I grew up. It used to be a place where people would look out
for each other’s kids, but it’s not like that anymore,” he
said.

David Krul hopes the vandalism is an isolated
incident and that the community will go back to business as
usual.

“I worry about
walking down the street no matter what,” he said. “I’ll walk and be
a little more vigilant. It’s probably a remote incident. But if it
happened again, I’d be much more disturbed by it and much more
concerned.”